Chocolate and Cherry Blossoms
by Junkyard Angel
Summary: Sakura has to deal with Toya and Yuki's relationship. Sort of branches off from the series. I wrote this a couple years ago and I'm not too pleased with some aspects of this, but I still want to know what people think of this. Too choppy? Let me know! ^


Bright paper cut out hearts adorned the school. They were crafted by Class 1-A, Sakura Kinomoto's class. It was a celebration of Valentine's Day.

"Oi, Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo called to her best friend. Sakura smiled and carried her bento wrapped in cheese cloth with little stars on it. She sat down next to her friend under a sakura tree (how appropriate.)

Sakura sat still while she waited for Tomoyo to follow up her bubbly greeting with a story. But Tomoyo was intent on unwrapping her bento, staring intensely at her bento with a slight color in her cheeks.

"Where'd Rika go? She's probably giving chocolates to her crush, whoever that is," said Sakura.

Sakura and Tomoyo followed the Japanese schoolgirl tradition of giggling hysterically at something that wasn't that funny.

"Who could it be? I'm really curious. I mean, aren't you?" Sakura continued.

Tomoyo was not paying attention. Instead she was watching Naoko buying her lunch through a window.

"I made this for you."

Tomoyo handed Sakura a cheesecloth with little hearts on it. Sakura pulled at the bow, revealing a pouch of homemade chocolates.

"Oh, thank you, Tomoyo. Oishii!" said Sakura between mouthfuls. That was the only appropriate response she could think of. Naoko paid for her lunch and walked across to where Sakura and Tomoyo were sitting. 

"Where's Rika?" Sakura and Tomoyo both asked.

"She's still in the classroom. Said she had something important to deliver."

"Why is Rika _always _being held late after class?" whined Tomoyo. Sakura nudged Tomoyo lightly in the ribs while nodding at Rika, who was approaching the group.

"Eeee," Rika squealed, "I'm so happy! Terada-sensei finally accepted my homemade chocolates!"

"You've been going after an older guy?" Naoko asked incredulously, "Don't you think that's a little, you know, unnatural?"

"But we're engaged! Like one of you have never had a crush on an guy who was little older!" answered Rika.

"Ahh . . . Yuki," Sakura thought. She didn't like that way Rika was staring was right at her. "I've got to give him my chocolates."

"But that's so forward, Sakura! You might be a considered a 'loose woman'!"

Everyone gave Naoko a look as if she was one of the UFOs she was always looking for. Well, almost everyone.

"Yes, I can't believe Rika's boldness as to give some chocolate to a guy twice her age! That's exactly why I chose to give MY chocolates to Sakura!" Tomoyo interrupted.

Crickets chirp.

***

"Oh, thank you so much, Sakura-chan! Without a doubt, these are the finest chocolates I have ever received!" Yuki rambled, sparkles and sakura blossoms in the air.

"So you REALLY like them?" chirped Sakura.

"Of course! I'm finally starting to think of you as a real woman! Only a good wife could have made such perfect chocolates! Sakura, will you marry me?"

Sakura gave Yuki a kiss as she was overwhelmed with emotion.

BRRRIIIIIIINNNGGG!

Sakura stopped her retarded sparkle-laced daydream. She grabbed her count and ran out the door, ignoring Tomoyo for the first time this school year.

Her pink canvas shoes slapped on the concrete until she spotted Yuki (Yuki!) and Toya. Wisely, she decided to wait until Toya left so she could give the chocolates away.

***

"Heh . . . So are you going to give any chocolates to anyone this year?" Toya held a school bag behind his right shoulder.

"Weird that you asked. Nahh, I was going to but I wimped out. You can have these, I don't want them anymore." Yuki offered Toya a cloth package and a weak smile. "Doozo."

Chew, chew.

Toya suddenly spun around to face Yuki. "Without a doubt, these are the finest chocolates I have ever eaten!"

Sakura did a face fault from her stop from where she was stalking in the bushes. She clinched her teeth and couldn't help from being just a little bit jealous. Okay, a lot.

Yuki beamed. "Seriously? You're so nice, Toya!"

Yuki's stomach tied into a trefoil as he remembered what had happened the _last time _he had said that. Totally rejected. Yuki's heart was beating as he wondered how his friend would react to that vaguely homosexual-sounding comment (in his mind.)

"Shut up and eat," Toya had admonished, forcing the lacquered chopsticks into Yuki's mouth. Little did Yuki know that his comment had just hit a little too close to home for Toya's tastes.

"Yuki, get a grip!" said Yuki as he smacked his forehead. Probably Toya didn't even remember the incident.

"Did you say something, Yuki?" asked Toya, smiling at Yuki with affection and amusement.

"Umm, well . . . ," Yuki stepped forward tentatively, "I never had a chance to try the chocolates, "can I have one?" 

Toya exhaled. "Yeah, of course."

The next thing Yuki knew his school bag had dropped to the ground. With some surprise, Yuki mentally processed that Toya was yes, kissing him. Toya's lips had a faint taste of chocolate. Toya pushed some chocolate into Yuki's mouth in the same way he had pushed the chopsticks into Yuki's mouth earlier, only slower. The chocolates were quite good. Maybe the second finest chocolates Yuki had ever tasted.

The moment was interrupted by a projectile that hit Toya's head. He pulled away and looked down to see a package. Sakura's cloth bundle. Fighting back tears, Sakura ran to her best friend's house.

"Sakura!" called out Yuki. Toya rubbed his head.

***

"Oh, Tomoyo!" Sakura wrapped her arms around Tomoyo, sobbing quietly.

"Sakura! Sakura! What happened? Did my chocolates give you food poisoning?"

***

"See, I found out that my brother is . . . what's that word . . . 

a homo--"

"Hey!"

"--and the person I've like all my life likes someone else, all on the same day!"

"Men! That's all they ever do, steal our loves!" Konomi made some punching motions in the air.

"Mom! You were listening in!" said Tomoyo.

A doorbell rang. Tomoyo and Sakura looked at each other, then ran to open it. They saw Yuki and Toya on the doorstep.

"Sakura, I'm sorry we surprised you like that," began Yuki.

"You two are . . . what's that word again . . . loose men!" Tomoyo tried rather pathetically to defend her friend's hurt feelings.

"I'm staying here tonight!" said Sakura.

Sakura shut the door and leaned against it. She watched her chest rise up and down, not wanting to think about what had she had just witnessed. Right know, they were the two people she least wanted to see.

***

The next morning, Sakura awoke to find Toya standing by the bed Sakura and her best friend were sharing.

"TOYA!" was Sakura's reaction.

"Sakura, I'm sorry that you had to react that way. You probably think I'm some kind of a sick perv . . . but," Toya seemed searching for words, "Love can _transcend_ these foolish bonds of . . ." Cherry blossoms, maneki neko, and the rising sun appeared in the background as Toya made a fist and look upward.

Sakura blushed. "That's _not_ what I'm worrying about!" she said with equal emphasis. Toya could really be obtuse sometimes. How could Yuki possibly. . .?

Tomoyo coughed a muffled cough in support for her friend from under the covers, pretending to be asleep.

"Toya, you knew that Yuki has been my only, my longest-lasting crush of childhood. There's no way you couldn't have known. For one whole week all I heard was, "Sakura and Yu-ki, sittin' in a tree!" And then for you to go and- -"

"If it truly bothers you that much, I won't take things any closer with Yuki," Toya said quietly.

"What? But. . ." Sakura vividly remembered her brother's facial expression from the incident yesterday. Completely at ease, not the smile he used to greet her.

"Yes. You _do _have first dibs," Toya's eyes sparkled with amusement, "But, you see, I don't know how Yuki would take that."

"Is he like," Sakura shifted around in the bed, "in _love _with you or something?"

"I don't know. Maybe. But you know, _you _were the one who was constantly singing, 'Toya and Yu-ki, sittin' in a tree.'"

Sakura squinted and stuck her tongue out.

"Hey, watch it, squirt!"

Toya kissed Sakura where her hair met her forehead.

"Think of it as an indirect kiss from Yuki." 


End file.
